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Liam Jones
Liam Jones, also known as Emperor Wellesley, is the Emperor of the Crown. Early Life Liam Jones was born in Chestnut, The Crown, to Brennan Jones and an unnamed woman who died shortly after his birth. He was born the younger brother of his estranged half-brother, Killian who would become an infamous Pirate. Jones' early life was spent helping his father with his various business schemes that often when awry. Brennan's family were from gypsy ancestry, and there were rumours that he was involved in horse thievery. Brennan owned a tavern with a small farm where Jones spent his childhood helping his father. Brennan died when Jones was eight years old, after which Jones followed his father's advice and travelled to Grosvenor with a neighbour in order to be taken into the Foundling Hospital. He was adopted shortly afterwards by one of the governors, Captain John Butler who was impressed by his resourcefulness. Jones spent the rest of his childhood happily in the privileged world and raised to be a country gentleman. He was raised equally alongside Butler's daughters Charlotte "Lottie", and Jane. He was sent to boarding school when he was eleven briefly before deciding to follow his adopted father's career in the navy. Naval Career Jones had a successful naval career progressing at a steady pace through his teenage years and became a Lieutenant by the age of 21. He was invited to join the HMS Clifton under the Captaincy of Admiral Laurel Rapeport, the most prominent Admiral of the decade. Rapeport was on a mission to pursue Jones' older brother, the Pirate outlaw, Killian Jones, a guise of his true intentions in tracking the Darya-i-Nur the lost diamond of Queen Ava. Rapeport intended to use Jones as bait believing there might be a familial affection between the two brothers. Jones agreed to the terms of the mission hoping to further his own career if it was successful. The HMS Clifto''n travelled to the edges of uncharted Arctic sea in gruelling conditions made considerably more difficult by the severity of Rapeport's infamous methods of discipline. During the mission Jones was subject to a punishment of Rapeport's own design "Whipping from the Front" in front of the whole crew for insubordination. Having caught up with Killian Jones and the Jolly Roger, the HMS Clifton feigned distress to appeal to Killian Jones' strict observance of the rules of the sea and good form. With the ships level, Rapeport announced a desire to barter with the pirates offering jewels in return for information. Upon realising Rapeport was bartering with the pirates to find a diamond to further his own career rather than a Royal command objected leading to Rapeport putting a pistol to Jones' head and a knife through his hand. With the threat of killing his younger brother Killian agreed to assist telling Rapeport of the rumours he had heard of the Dara-i-Nur's whereabouts however, swiftly outmanoeuvred Rapeport and in the commotion allowed Jones to remove the knife in his and turn it on Rapeport stabbing him in the eye. Jones and Killian managed to beat and overpower Rapeport, leading Jones to commit mutiny and set Rapeport adrift in a dinghy. Jones led the HMS Clifton home claiming that Rapeport had died at sea by the hand of the Pirates. Supported by his crew, Jones received medals and praises of bravery which soon led to his promotion to Captain. During this period on land Jones was introduced to Agnes Worthy, a the beautiful and wealthy daughter of one of the neighbouring families of the Butlers. The two began courting despite her family's resistance to Jones' low birthright and having no legal right to Butler's inheritance. Agnes turned down many suitors during this time, Jones was often away at sea but spent almost all of his shore-leave visiting Agnes. When Agnes' family refused to grant permission for the two to marry, Jones and Worthy conspired to meet in Avonlea during his next shore leave marry each other in secret. However, when the time came, Jones waited in Avonlea but Agnes did not arrive. Jones then left the Crown for many years being stationed in the Agrab Ocean. War Time and the Mutiny of the Queen Jane It was during this time that the Imperial War had spread East and Crown soldiers were being sent to fight of the growing forces spreading through the Great Forests. Since the mission aboard the HMS Clifton, Jones had continued to research the Dara-i-Nur, discovering the myths that it could grant wishes and its other name the All Seeing Eye''. He followed the rumours of its whereabouts and successfully retrieved it. Jones believed that since the Adversarial Imperial forces were magical the Dara-i-Nur it might be the only thing that could defeat them, since the Crown did not have or use magic. Using the Dara-i-Nur as a guide, Jones sailed the'' Queen Jane'' South allowing the magical properties of the stone to steer the ship. Jones informed his crew were informed that they were sailing to join other Crown ships to defeat an Imperial fleet. However, the Dara-i-Nur took them into uncharted territory and the ship became stuck in doldrums for four months. With steadily depleting rations the crew became restless and accusatory towards Jones as he ordered the ship to hauled by smaller boats in the wrong direction refusing to change course. Lt. Percy Hart the younger son of the ancient, aristocratic Hart family led a mutiny against Jones, alongside Lt. Charles Aspley, Lt. Henry Walters and supported by the whole crew. In the ensuing fracas, Jones was accidentally shot by Hart and quickly put into a dinghy and set adrift. As soon as Jones left the ship with the Dara-i-Nur the Queen Jane caught the wind in her sails and sailed away successfully. Weak, and losing blood, Jones collapsed in the dinghy. He awoke on dry land on a deserted island. Jones discovered the Three Spinners, or the Fates, to whom he returned the Dara-i-Nur, the All Seeing Eye that they shared between them in order to observe the fates. Jones discovered that it did not grant wishes nor have the ability to defeat the Adversarial Imperial Forces, but as a reward the Spinners offered Jones a choice between his current fate and a different one. The Spinners told him on his current lifeline he would become the greatest soldier in the Kingdom and the best friend of the King, but that his love of a woman would cause the destruction of that Mighty Nation and cause all men to hate him. The new fate would see him be the father of many sons, give him the love of a great enchantress and hold power over other men. Fearing that his current fate would lead him and The Crown to ruin, Jones chose the second fate and watched as the Spinners untied the threads of his and another's fate and exchange them. He was told to return to the boat and set it adrift, fall asleep and when he awoke his new fate would take place. Jones did not realise at the time that his original fate would have led him to Albion to become, what he would later learn, was the role of Sir Lancelot. Jones was rescued from the sea by a Crown vessel and returned to the Crown at the end of the year. His behaviour had been much altered by both his experiences in the mutiny, war, and the change in his fate. His first act was to return to the Admiralty and accuse the mutineers, he pressed for full charges and in a monumental case had the mutineers all hanged publicly. Jones also found out during this time that Agnes Worthy had married Fitzwilliam Spencer-Clark, Viscount Selby with whom she had twin sons. Desiring to confront Agnes about her jilting him in Avonlea, he wrote many letters to her, all of which were ignored. Jones then threatened to expose their plan to elope to the newspapers unless she agreed to meet him in secret. He rented a coastal cottage near Selby where Agnes met him. Unimpressed by her reasons for refusing him Jones raped her before sending her back home. The war grew worse and Jones returned to sea for many years gaining a reputation as a fearsome commander, and soldier. He led many sieges on Adversarial Imperial ports throughout the North West Tundra, Agrabah and the Great Forests, and became a decorated officer and was invited by the Admiralty to assist in tactical command. The Fountains of Youth had now been in existence for roughly a decade giving Jones, and other commanders, the unique ability to gain experience in battle after battle without the weariness of old age. However, the Crown was eventually overpowered and Queen Ava forced to pass the Act of Surrender. Jones was lucky enough to escape the Crown before the Imperial Army marched in, with more experience in magic than most Crownmen, he trusted the gates opened by the Enchanters of The Isle and was one of the handful of Crownmen who escaped through them. The Isle Jones suffered similarly to many of the later arrivals to the Isle, the best government positions and prosperous roles were taken by elites and enchanters from the Forest who had been the initial founders of the Isle under the leadership of Prince James. Jones, struggled for a while to find a suitable occupation on the Isle, he had been an experienced Naval Officer but the Isle was hidden from Adversarial forces but that also stopped any of the inhabitants leading the way out. He had hoped that Prince James was gathering strength and building a united army that would rise up and fight the Empire, in which Jones wished to take a position of command, but those intentions never came into fruition. Jones became a successful business men opening up a pleasure house in the main district, a combination of a gambling house, entertainment venue, and brothel. The business expanded until Jones became one of the most successful business men on the isle allowing him to create connections with Forest elites, including Prince James. Jones was also reunited with his brother Killian who was finally released from prison for the murder of his lover, the wife of one of the Forest Enchanters. Killian began to work for Jones as a bodyguard, and later a business partner. Jones also became acquainted with Morgan le Fay, who lived under the alias Scarlet, an Albionite prostitute, and mistress to Dr Whale, the Ingolstadt Society Doctor on the Isle. Jones found Scarlet's behaviour towards him strange and unnerving, and was reluctant to enter into a relationship with courtesan. However, in time a relationship formed and she ended her contract with Dr Whale. Jones was also introduced to Scarlet's brother, Arthur Pendragon posing as the blacksmith, Kay. Jones became suspicious of the siblings who were relatively new to the island, and yet were granted relatively a grand accommodation in a desirable area. Most newcomers, even those of note, were usually granted slum housing which had been built with the intention that they would not be in use long due to an imminent return to their nations. After the discovery of their true identities, Jones remembered his new fate was the love of a great enchantress, and proposed to Morgan. Their son, Tristan was born soon afterwards. Jones had an uneasy relationship with Tristan who was far closer to his mother and his Uncle. Jones began behaving erratically, possibly a residual side-effect of the change of his fate that often left him in confused and changeable states of mind, and also from the claustrophobic conditions of the Isle. He eventually became disenchanted with the leadership in the Isle and aided in the downfall of Prince James. Arthur Pendragon publicly announced himself after the arrival of Sir Gawain and Sir Lancelot who had managed to arrive on the Isle in search of him. Arthur then ran for position against Jones for the position of Regent promising to lead a campaign back home. Upon losing the election, Jones reluctantly supported Arthur's regency. Jones also had to deal with Morgan's steadily more uncontrollable behaviour, she had begun to see visions of the powers behind the Empire, and behaved possessed as the full range of her magic and powers returned to her. He also became deeply uncomfortable with the closeness she had to their now teenage son, Tristan. However, any attempts he made to pull Tristan away from her were met with hostile contempt from his son who was training under Sir Lancelot. Jones attempted resolve the situation by planning to have another child with Morgan, believing that being having to care for an infant might force her into control and give their marriage a second chance . Morgan soon gave birth to their second child, Ava. Morgan cared for her for a few years but as Ava became increasingly less dependent on her mother, Morgan returned to her erratic behaviour and obsessive behaviour towards Tristan. Using her powers she managed to escape from the Isle and disappeared altogether. Sanctum Arthur had now sent the initial forces to set up gates to Sanctum. Jones had little faith in his plans and continued to accuse Arthur of only craving to return to Albion and that would eventually forget the other nations. Due to his constant undermining and objects Arthur did not trust Jones and refused to give him a position of command. Jones refused any position offered to him and decided to stay in the Isle to raise Ava instead. Jones spent the next few years educating Ava as the Isle became less and less populous as more residents transferred to Sanctum to join the fighting. When Ava was sixteen she had an affair with Kit Sharpley, a Crownman business associate of Jones that left her pregnant, Jones persuaded her to abort the child and then took her to Sanctum and requested that Arthur send Sharpley on a mission far away from her. Arthur agreed to this request and two managed to mend their friendship. Jones began taking part in reconnaissance missions in the area around Sanctum, allowing him to stay close to Ava. It was during this time that Jones realised that the Imperial fleet was being led by Laurel Rapeport who Jones thought he had killed years ago in the mutiny. Jones and Arthur both agreed that it was important to track down Morgan, Arthur had received reports of her name being mentioned in Albion in association with the disappearance of Mordred, and in Agrabah. Jones also agreed that he owed it to his wife and his daughter to find her, he travelled to Agrabah with Ali Baba and Dr Whale. They followed the trail to Ali Baba's abandoned, Druze city, where Morgan had once visited in search of magical scrolls prior to coming to the Isle. Jones discovered her there starved and imprisoned in a well by Ali Baba's psychopathic son, Hatem. After killing and mutilating Hatem, Jones rescued Morgan and took her back to Dr Whale to nurse back to health. After she had recovered they journeyed back to Sanctum together leaving Dr Whale behind in Agrabah. Jones learned that Morgan had defeated Mordred by trapping him under the ice, killing him and turning him into an ice spirit. She also confessed to killing her sister, Morgause. Merlin appeared to her her inviting her to join him and revealing that everything he had done had been to make Arthur lead the peoples of the world together, giving Albion dominion over the whole world. That it had been Merlin who had created the Isle and led the people of the Forest there supposedly martyring himself in the process. Morgan refusing to side with her oldest enemy did battle with Merlin and was eventually defeated and banished to Agrabah, having wounded Merlin deeply beforehand. Jones and Morgan returned to Sanctum and confessed the truth to a horrified Arthur, who swore vengeance but would not let all those deaths have been in vain that he would still lead Sanctum and would return sovereignty to each of the lands. After a brief reunion with Tristan and Ava, Arthur asked Jones and Morgan to return to Merlin undercover and swear allegiance to him and bring back any information. Jones struggled in his position undercover and found himself opposite Sir Safir and Laurel Rapeport. He also struggled being away from the action as Sanctum was attacked by Imperial forces. He also could not comprehend Morgan's behaviour as she sexually engaged with Merlin, aided in the death of Sir Lancelot and the torture, mutilation and execution of Prince James. Jones tried to rescue Prince James, blowing his cover, but James succumbed to his grievous wounds. The Crown Uprising Jones returned to Sanctum ready to reveal to Arthur everything that had happened, claiming Morgan had truly changed sides. He requested to be given leave to go East and discover what had happened to the Crown, desiring to be far away from Sanctum and all that had occurred. Arthur agreed to the mission, and Jones took several Crownmen from the Isle, and some who had come in search of Sanctum from other places of exile. He also took Kit Sharpley as a means of apology for punishing him for the affair with Ava Jones allowed others to lead the group across the Forest, deciding not to take the leadership for once. As they closed in on the Crown they heard more and more rumours that it had become a slave state, a very prosperous and wealthy city that had accumulated its wealth by being one of the three major slave ports, alongside Haichen in the Middle Kingdom and Musqual in Agrabah. During the time in the Crown the uprising in Avonlea filtered down into the Crown and lead to several slave rebellions which Jones and his group assisted in. It was crushed quickly by the Imperial forces and private militia of the slavers. Jones and his group returned to Sanctum to gather more men and proclaim the Crown ready to be taken. Jones arrived back in Sanctum to find that Arthur had entered negotiations with the Norse invaders led by Aerindis Eiriksdottir who had taken over the throne of Camelot during Mordred's absence. Arthur was trying to offer a treaty by entering into marriage with Aerindis and had offered Ava as a hostage while the terms were being settled. Furious at finding that his daughter was being used as a hostage Jones took weapons found in the Crown and rode for Camelot, upon entering the castle, he immediately tried to fire at Arthur, killing several Norse warriors in the process. Jones was immediately arrested and sentenced to death however, Arthur attempted to speak for him, claiming that he only came for his daughter and acted out of passion. Aerindis ordered Ava to decide his fate. Ava proclaimed to the court that her father had betrayed her trust and she rejected him for his actions, a ruse so that Aerindis would believe Jones had no reason to return. Jones was sentenced to imprisonment in the oubliette where he was guarded for several days. Jones was helped to escape by his group of Crownmen, who were, unbeknownst to Jones, assisted by Ava. The Crownmen escaped Albion and travelled through the Forest, aiming to return to the Crown, they rested for a while in a small village where Jones was miraculously reunited with his foster-sister, Lottie Butler and her daughter Isabelle. After the devastation of losing his daughter and the exhaustion from his journey he stayed for a while in the village before setting back towards the town with Lottie and Isabelle. During this period Jones managed to make contact with other exiled Crownmen, including former politician Edward Wilberforce who had heard of Jones' assistance in the slave rebellion and had been working under the leadership of the Scarlet Pimpernel, with the funding of various exiled aristocratic families. Jones and Lottie as husband and wife, opened a rural tavern alongside the Grosvenor Road and assisted in smuggling weapons and delivering information to the different agents. During this period Jones met and helped the heir to the Crown, Maximilian IV of the House of Victoria and forged a firm friendship. The Pimpernel also arranged for a meeting between Jones and Laurel Rapeport offering Rapeport clemency in return for leading the Imperial Fleet in the name of the Crown.